The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
It’s tempting to book right away – but beware
You’ve finally all agreed on where to go, but those seasonal deals may not be all they seem, says Nick Trend
Imagine yourself two days hence: it is Christmas afternoon, or the early evening perhaps. You are stuffed, groggy, hungover and maybe slightly weary of your extended family. You are looking for ways of cheering yourself up. You turn to the internet. What better time to splash out thousands of pounds on the biggest purchase of the year? Or is it?
One of the strange psychological effects of Christmas is that, in the December run-up, it dominates our lives, leaving no time for anything else. And then suddenly it is over. Apart from a brief knees-up over the New Year period, we are faced with little to look forward to until Easter, which is still three months away.
That might be an overly negative characterisation of the post-Christmas blues, but it certainly seems to be part of the motivation behind what has always been the busiest period in the travel industry: the post-Christmas booking boom. We get over our seasonal hangover by cheering ourselves up with thoughts of summer. The travel industry is only too aware of this. Its Christmas bonus is the money we pay to secure our bookings six or seven months before we even travel.
Operators are well prepared for this rush, of course. All the big sun and sand specialists launch a raft of offers and incentives to try to convert the traffic into bookings. But, is it a good idea to be tempted now? Do these deals represent good value, or is it better to wait to see if prices fall again in January, or even later in the year? The short answer is to tread carefully. Here are four reasons to be cautious:
1. DISCOUNTS
Trying to work out if a discount is “real” can be hard because package holiday prices are not normally fixed and vary according to demand. A “discount” may represent a cheaper price than the week before – but remember, that doesn’t mean it won’t be even cheaper next week. So ignore the hype and check the bottom-line price – what matters is that you can genuinely afford it and that it looks like reasonable value.
2. LOW DEPOSITS
Low or “zero” deposits are often offered as an incentive at this time of year. They can seem very attractive – you may think they are a good way of locking down an option on your summer holiday with the reassurance that you could always cancel later if you can’t afford to go ahead with the trip or have to change your plans. However, as a recent Which? report pointed out, in nearly all cases the small print means that all you are really doing is signing an agreement to pay the rest of the deposit at a later date – and you will be legally liable for that much bigger amount if you do subsequently decide to cancel. So while low deposits can be good news if you want to secure your holiday but delay your payments, they can’t normally be used as a low-risk way of booking a good deal.
3. PRICE-MATCH GUARANTEES
Some agents and operators try to win your confidence by promising to refund the difference if you find the same holiday cheaper elsewhere. Take such guarantees with a huge pinch of salt. They sound reassuring, but they are an easy promise to make and are of doubtful value to consumers. The terms and conditions are normally also extremely limiting and, in any case, very few people carry on looking for a holiday after they have just bought one.
4. “FREE” CHILD PLACES
This is another area where it is all too easy to get distracted by the marketing hype. The first thing to be aware of is that it is normally only the flight and meals which may be “free”; the child will have to share your room or apartment in order to qualify. And while such offers can be good value, the only way to be sure is to look online, check the holiday price as though only two adults were booking and then run the booking again to see the cost of adding one or more children. Then you will know if it really is free or not.